Fish a cloudy mix for skimmers – Steve Ringer shows you how to do it.
Discover how skimmer bream can be a winter banker on the pools, if you get your feeding right
AMONG the most reliable species to target on commercials in the cold is skimmer bream.
They feed on the coldest of days, and loads of lakes are full of them. That said, sometimes in winter skimmers can be reluctant to come in close to the bank in clear, shallow water.
The good news, though, is that just because the skimmers sit that bit further out it doesn’t mean they can’t be caught.
It’s in this type of situation that the cage feeder really comes into its own.
If you’ve not picked out one of these feeders for your commercial fishing for a while, then it’s high time you did!
MY SKIMMER SET-UP
With feeders, it’s very much a case of the smaller the better! I like the original Drennan cage feeders in micro and mini sizes. Normally I will start on the mini before switching to the smaller, micro size as the session progresses.
The only change I make to the feeders is to add extra lead. This is done to help them cast better, and so I can get tight to the feeder that bit quicker after the cast. Sometimes skimmer bites can come instantly, so being able to tighten up fast is a necessity.
Rod choice is an 11ft Tournament Pro Quiver. It has a lovely soft action, perfect for skimmers, but it can handle carp too if need be.
My reel is a 4012 TDR, and with braid being banned on most commercials it’s loaded with 4lb Guru Pulse line. My set-up is then a simple running paternoster to a 50cm hooklength of 0.12mm Pure Fluorocarbon and a size 16 Guru F1 Pellet hook.
If I get lots of indications I will shorten the hooklength to 30cm, as usually the indications are caused by skimmers coming closer to the feeder.
HOW FAR OUT TO FISH
Knowing how far out to fish comes with experience or knowledge of the venue.
For example, it can be worth plumbing around with a 1oz lead on some commercials to look for the deepest water. This is where you’re likely to find the skimmers at this time of year.
Today I know that 30m is a good line. It puts me in around 10ft of water, but if I don’t catch I can always move. Normally, if you get the location right, you shouldn’t have to wait too long for a response from skimmers.
When I’m feeder fishing I use measuring sticks. They allow you to know exactly how far out you are casting, and you can make notes for future reference.
FISHING TO BITES
To kick the swim off, even in the cold, I like to put in four big baiting-up feeders.
Each one contains mainly groundbait, with a pinch of dead maggots, dead pinkies and micro pellets. When putting the initial bait in I try and put it over an area roughly 5m long as opposed to on a sixpence. Skimmers like to graze, and are easier to pick off over a
fairly wide area. There is also less chance of them spooking when they are doing this.
I’m a big fan of the new Guru baiting-up feeders for this task. They are big, but they don’t need a specialist rod to cast them.
After the initial feed it’s all about the fishing and, as a guide, I will kick off on the mini-sized cage feeder containing groundbait, three or four dead pinkies and maybe a couple of dead red maggots – plus a tiny (and I mean tiny!) pinch of maybe 8-10 pellets.
Then, depending on bites and what they are telling me, I will cast every five minutes to start with. The idea behind relatively regular casting is to attempt to build up the swim and keep that fishattracting cloud in the swim.
Normally, around the hour mark, I will drop down to the micro cage, because now I’m trying to catch skimmers as opposed to feeding them. Obviously, then, I don’t need to put as much bait in.
The micro cage feeder, being so small, goes in quietly and is unlikely to spook the fish.
From this point on I will look to mix things up in response to bites. For example, if bites slow d own I will have three quick casts (90 seconds or so) to cloud the swim back up again, before reverting back to my normal tactics.
It’s amazing how often a little trick such as this will work and breathe new life into what had seemed a peg devoid of fish.